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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099236">Moments in The Lobby of Amnesty Lodge</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pres310/pseuds/Pres310'>Pres310</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU where the Starblaster crew stays in Kepler for a cycle, Based on a dream I had, Canon Trans Character, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Implied Transphobia, Late Night Conversations, Like, Trans Female Character, Trans Mama, Trans Solidarity, very gently implied</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:14:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099236</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pres310/pseuds/Pres310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mama is kept awake late at night and into the early morning, a strange and enticing visitor comes to talk to her about her worries.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Moments in The Lobby of Amnesty Lodge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based on a dream I had where Mama and Lup ran a LGBTQ youth group while Lup was in Kepler for a cycle.</p><p>Was supposed to be much longer, but unfortunately. I'm very mentally ill and writing is very hard sometimes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>        Madeline Cobb- or Mama, as most called her- had just met the most interesting Sylph to ever grace the halls of the Amnesty Lodge. She hadn't quite caught the stranger's name, but she was tall, with pink ringlets of hair and elven ears and dark brown-black eyes. Her smile was mischievous in a way that made Mama eye her belongings carefully, but her voice just kept drawing Mama in to listen every time.</p><p><br/>        After hours in The Lodge were quiet, with the sticky and staticy feeling of the early hours of the morning, when existence seemed to fray at the edges. Mama had intended to go to sleep hours ago, only to find herself pacing the lobby in between sporadic bouts of trying to sleep on the couch. Her eyes burned with lack of sleep, her joints weren't feeling too well either, and she knew she needed rest, but goddamn, was Jake Coolice keeping her up at night.</p><p><br/>        Jake Coolice, local selkie and the kid brother of the folks at Amnesty Lodge, was most definitely not okay. The little Sylph had been moping in his room for a few days now, and Mama suspected that the sudden absence of Hollis and Keith had something to do with it. She didn't want to push him for answers, but at the same time, she wanted to help him. She wanted to help her little buddy.</p><p><br/>        “Hey,” said a raspy voice, scratchy with sleep and surprisingly warm and fond. “You doin’ alright there? No offense but you look like you haven't slept since this Lodge was built.” A yawn from the stranger, and Mama almost smiled.</p><p><br/>        “Not exactly,” Mama pushed her fingers into her hair. “I can handle it myself… y’know, I don't think I caught your name earlier.”</p><p><br/>        The strange woman paused, like she was considering it for a moment. Weighing her options.</p><p><br/>        “Lup,” she finally said. “Do you wanna talk about it?”</p><p><br/>        “I-” Mama was caught off guard by that, so much so that she finally stopped her pacing and looked at Lup. Her hair was in a red bonnet and there was a smear of black lipstick at the corner of her lips. “Like I said, I can handle it on my own, you really don't have to worry.”</p><p><br/>        “C’mooon Mama,” that mischievous smile came back. “You know just as well as I do that whatever it is is <em>eating. You. Up.</em>” In that moment, Mama would have told anything to this stranger.</p><p><br/>        “...Come sit,” Mama gestured towards the couch. “I’ll make us both some tea.”</p><p><br/>…</p><p><br/>        Tea freshly brewed and warm mugs held in warm hands, the two women sat comfortably on the couch in the dim light of the <em>No Service</em> signal on the old TV. Lup wrapped herself up in a blanket, while Mama simply pulled her old coat around herself for warmth.</p><p><br/>         “I guess… you've met Jake, right? Little blonde dude who hangs out in the lobby with Dani?”</p><p><br/>        “Oh yeah!” Lup perked up with recognition, before snickering. “Little man absolutely <em>wrecked</em> my brother after the idiot decided to bet on who could snowboard better.” A nervous laugh creeped up Mama’s throat.</p><p><br/>        “Yeah, that's Jake after all…” she trailed off.</p><p><br/>        “...He did also seem pretty uhh… off, if that's where this is going.”</p><p><br/>        “That’s exactly where this is going,” the truth was leaden on Mama’s tongue. “Long story short; I’m fairly certain he got in a fight with his best friend and Partner, and I’m… pretty sure he broke up with his partner. He’s been taking it pretty hard the past few days, but I'm glad he got out to decimate your brother on a snowboard.”</p><p>        “He has a best friend that isn't that Dani girl?”</p><p><br/>        “Had,” Mama deadpanned. “And… yeah, he’s pretty close with Dani. They got here around the same time. Jake was pumped to meet another Sylph he could get along with, and Dani was- god, Dani was so stoked to meet another queer Sylph or Human who was her age. Who wasn't Barclay or…”</p><p><br/>        Mama weighed her words carefully. She didn't know this person all that well, and her experiences with telling strangers she was trans was… mixed, to say the least. </p><p><br/>        “Or me,” she finished. The words stayed uneasily in the air, but not for long.</p><p><br/>        “Gooooooood,” Lup drawled. “I know how that feels. My brother and I came out to each other at the same time and- and I do not think I can physically tell you how happy that made me. That I wasn't alone.” The words settled in Mama’s bones familiarly, and she looked over at Lup like she was looking in a mirror. She felt like a teenager again, when the Kepler librarian called her <em>Madeline</em> for the first time. </p><p><br/>        “Yeah,” Mama’s tongue felt suddenly dry. “Yeah…”</p><p><br/>        “So,” Lup tried gently. “Seems like Jake’s taking that breakup pretty harshly.”</p><p><br/>        “Yeah,” Mama sighed deeply. “I… I wanna help him, but he just seems to want some space right now. I think Dani’s been able to help a little bit, though.”</p><p><br/>        A bout of silence, then- “and… how do you feel about all this?”</p><p><br/>        “I feel like I want to fist fight a couple of punk teenagers,” Mama groaned, earning a loud laugh from Lup.</p><p><br/>        “Who doesn't, sometimes?” Mama chuckled at that, but it was soon to die in her chest. There was something else- some other issue digging at her, weighing on her chest. She knew she was probably safe here, but still. The words were guarded closely, kept so deep and close.</p><p><br/>        “...And,” Mama began shakily.</p><p><br/>        “And?”</p><p><br/>        She could lie. She could just… stop. Redirect the conversation.</p><p><br/>        “I started taking Estrogen again,” Mama almost whispered into her tea as she took a sip. “I uhh- I had to stop for a few years. Life got in the way of me taking it and I was havin’ some troubles affording it and all for a while… so yeah. That's been interesting.”</p><p><br/>        “Hey!” Lup spoke kindly with soft excitement. “That's fuckin’ amazing, Mama! Here’s to <em>The Notorious HRT</em>!” She held up her mug for a toast, which Mama gladly returned.</p><p><br/>        “To HRT,” Mama chuckled warmly. “Thanks, Lup. I think… part of me is just scared that I'm taking it too late. It's- it's stupid-”</p><p><br/>        “It's not stupid,” Lup set a hand on Mama’s shoulder. “That's a valid fear, but Mama, there’s no such thing as too late. You're doing the best you can with what life has handed your ass, and to be honest, your Best is pretty rad.”</p><p><br/>        Mama just smiled into her tea, the words taking a moment to process for her. She had to agree- she was doing her best with what she had, and… it wasn't that bad. </p><p><br/>        And if the Lodge residents found both women asleep on the couch, empty mugs in their hands, the next morning, nobody seemed to question it. The Lodge residents knew Mama was always up for a late night heart-to-heart, a very select few Travellers had an inkling of how supportive Lup was, and a very specific elf was too busy still glaring at Jake Coolice to notice.</p>
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